Wiretapping is terrifying: Red Cross lifeguard killed elderly patients

Luca Spada, a 27-year-old former Red Cross volunteer driver and orderly, is accused of murdering patients in Italy. Spada was arrested in the city of Forli on charges of murdering six elderly patients whom he transported in ambulances.

According to the investigation, the rescuer injected air through a venous catheter to the victims while no one saw. Wiretapping of telephone conversations was used during the investigation. Italian media publish wiretapping materials, which, as journalists write, are shocking and terrifying.

"Today I made two dead men," Spada uttered this phrase in a conversation with his girlfriend.

In another intercept, he says to a colleague: "God, why are you saving everyone? Someone has to die sometimes."

On July 8, 2025, he sent a message: "I just arranged a death in the Kuzerkoli."

It was about 69-year-old Francesco Mario Scavone. His son Luka said that the night before they played cards and watched TV. The father was stable, waiting for the usual transportation to the nursing home. And in the morning the news came that his heart had stopped during transportation.

The wiretaps reveal Spada's contacts with the owners of a funeral home in Meldol. After the next death of a patient, he calls there: "I'm at work, I just laid one down." The owner of the bureau replies: "Did you leave a business card?" The investigation has not yet confirmed the financial motive, but the connection between the deaths and the commercial interests of funeral services is one of the versions.

Spada's colleague testified that she had seen a scalpel and a syringe in his possession, items that an ordinary ambulance driver should not have. In her opinion, he used them in those moments when he was alone with the patient.

Spade was charged with murder with aggravating circumstances: using the helpless state of the victims, breach of duty, treachery, causing harm to patients. In one of the episodes — the murder of 85-year—old Diana Mambelli - prosecutors insist on direct intent, although the judge has not yet agreed with this.

The arrest warrant was executed by the Carabinieri on April 11 after receiving the results of the exhumation and autopsy of a woman who died in November 2025.

The investigation is ongoing. Other cases of deaths during transportation are being checked.